West End Tortola, circa 1967

Photo of West End Customs 2001

My first visit to West End (Sopers Hole) was in the 1970s. I was tied up along the seawall at Charlotte Amalie and approached by an agent from St. Thomas Dairies who hired me to deliver a load of milk to West End on Tortola. For some reason they couldn’t do it themselves that day, presumably due to one of the many contingencies that was, and still is, likely to occur here in the islands.

Arriving at customs at West End, I noticed a monument dedicated to the arrival of the Queen of England on her first visit to Tortola. A brass plaque read something like “where the Queen first stepped foot on the BVI.” Interestingly enough, the dedication was located far enough away from the edge of the dock that the Queen would have to have a have taken a mighty leap to set her royal foot down that far away from whatever vessel she was on that tied up to the dock.

Commenting on this to a BVI local, it was explained that the original monument was indeed erected at the exact spot where the Queen actually stepped foot. (see above photo) In actual practice, however, this was an inconvenient place for the monument as it interfered with the loading and offloading of cargo on the dock.

It was in response to this difficulty the dedication was moved away from the loading area, explaining the British monarch’s seemingly extraordinary disembarkation at Soper’s Hole on the island of Tortola, BVI.

St. John Live Music – Friday April 13

Aqua Bistro – Steve Sloan – 5:30 – 8:30 – 776-5336
Beach Bar – Jon Beninghof Band – 9:00 – 777-4220
Castaways – Mikey P – 9:00 – 777-3316
Cinnamon Bay – Eddie Bruce Drum Circle – 6:30 – 8:00
Cruz Bay Prime – James Cobb – 7:00 – 10:00 – 693 -8000
Driftwood Dave’s – John W Lee -7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
Island Blues – Slammin – 776 6800
Morgan’s Mango – Lauren – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – T-Bird – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Rhumblines – Erin Hart – 7:00 – 10:00
Spyglass – James – 5:00 – 8:00 – 776-1100

See Weekly Schedule

Dead Chest Island, British Virgin islands

“Fifteen Men on the Dead Man’s Chest”

Dead Chest Island lies a little less than a half mile north east of Deadman’s Bay on Peter Island in the British Virgin islands (BVI). It’s a small scrubby cay with no fresh water and no big trees for shade. Legend has it that the notorious pirate Blackbeard punished a number of his crew by marooning them on the island for 30 days leaving each man with only a cutlass and a bottle of rum. By the time Blackbeard returned to the cay, most of the pirates had perished.

When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, which was modeled after nearby Norman Island, he included the well known ditty:

“Fifteen Men on the dead man’s Chest,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.”

Dead Man’s Chest, being one of the names given to what today is called Dead Chest Island.

In 1994, the record of the surviving pirates of dead Chest island was broken by journalist, Quentin van Marle who marooned himself for 31 days on the inhospitable island. Van Marle wrote the book, Marooned, 31 Days on Dead Man’s Chest about the ordeal.

Van Marle explains: “In 1994, in conjunction with the Sunday Times, and in some sort of honour to Robert Louis Stevenson and Treasure Island, I deliberately marooned myself on the uninhabited island of Dead Man’s Chest (part of the British Virgin Islands). Surviving for a month on a barren rock of 300 square metres by 100 metres high was a tough call. The book is a weekly diary of what became quite an ordeal. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.”

St. John Live Music Schedule Monday March 19

High Tide – Mikey P – 8:00 – 11:00 – 714-6169
La Tapa – Samba Combo – 6:30 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Maho Bay Camp – Open Mic with Lauren -6:30
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304

See Weekly Schedule

Dock at Abe's by the Sea, Jost Van Dyke British Virgin Islands. That's Great Thatch and St. John seen across the channel.

The above photo was taken from one of my favorite restaurant in the world (and I’ve been to my share over the years), Abes By the Sea. It’s rather remote, located at Little Harbour on Jost Van Dyke in our neighboring British Virgin Islands. It was even more remote years ago. Now you can take a ferry to Jost Van Dyke and a taxi to Abe’s, but when he first opened, there was no ferry and no roads. You had to get there by boat.

Abe is a native Jost Van Dyke fisherman who decided to open a restaurant to serve the growing number of yachtsmen visiting the island. If you like big portions of fresh lobster, conch, or fish, deliciously prepared this is the place.

Abe's at Night

Chin & Boopy Enjoy Lobster & Conch

View from Window

St. John Weather

High Surf Advisory!

High Temperature: 85 degrees

Water Temperature: 80 degrees

Winds: From the east at 10 – 15 mph with gust of 25 mph or more

Sunset: 6:27

Moon Rise: Full Moon rises at 6:55

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Thursday, March 8

Banana Deck – Steel Pan by Lemuel Samuels – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5055
Castaways – Dance Party – 11:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – Just Mike – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
High Tide – Inner Vision – 8:00-11:00 – 714-6169
Island Blues -Ike – 7:00 – 10:00 – 776-6800
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Mark Wallace – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Shipwreck Landing – Slammin – 7:00 – 10:00
Skinny Legs – Lauren  – 6:00 – 9:00 – 779-4982
The Tap Room – Van Gordon Martin Band – 9:00 – 998-1333

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

The Bight, Norman Island, British Virgin Islands (BVI)

St. John Weather

Partly cloudy
High temperature: 88 degrees F
Water temperature: 80 degrees F
Winds: east southeast at 12 -16 mph
Sunset: 6:26 pm

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Sunday, March 4

Aqua Bistro- Lauren – 3:30 – 6:30 – 776-5336
Beach Bar – The Fiddler – 5:00 -777-4220
Concordia – Bo – Sunday Brunch 10:00 am
Driftwood Dave’s – Live Music – 1:00 – 4:00 – 777-4015
Miss Lucy’s – Samba Combo – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – 693-5354
Ocean Grill – David Laab – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Shipwreck Landing – Hot Club of Coral Bay – 7:00 – 10:00

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

Bubbly Pool Jost Van Dyke, BVI

Surf’s Up! Good time to visit the Bubbly Pool on Jost Van Dyke, natures own Jacuzzi.

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Tuesday, February 7

Castaways – Karaoke Night – 9:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – James Cobb & Michael Beason -700 -10:00 – 777-4015
High Tide – Erin Hart – 4:00 – 7:00 – 714-6169
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Greg Kinslow – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Rascio on Steel Pan – 6:00 – 9:30 -693-3304
Shipwreck Landing – Chris Carsel – 6:00 – 9:30

See the weekly schedule

St. John School of the Arts Presents: Free Film Night

Concrete, Steel and Paint
7:30 pm at St. John School of the Arts, Cruz Bay

Nonetheless, the illegal poaching of turtles continues to some degree and some nations like the British Virgin Islands have established a legal season for hunting turtles for subsistence purposes. In the BVI turtles are used primarily for their shells as decorations, while their meat is consumed mostly by indigenous islanders.

Turtle season In the BVI runs from December 1 through March 31 and allows for the harvesting of both Hawksbill and Green Turtles, but hunting Loggerhead or Leatherback turtles is prohibited and the collection of turtle eggs is banned.

The hunting, storage, and slaughtering of turtles is a cruel business and in today’s modern Caribbean where turtles serve better as tourist attractions than for decorations or dinner, many people would like to see Turtle hunting completely prohibited.  A Facebook group has been established to try to End Sea Turtle Hunting Season in the British Virgin Islands

BVI Law Concerning Turtles
1) No person shall

(a) disturb, remove from the fishery waters, expose for sale, sell, purchase or have in his possession any turtle’s eggs;
(b) interfere with any turtle nest or turtle that is nesting;
(c) remove from the fishery waters, expose for sale, sell, purchase or have in his possession any undersized turtle or catch a leatherback turtle or loggerhead turtle on which there is a moratorium;
(d) set within 100 meters of the shores of the Virgin Islands any net, seine or other article for the purpose or with the intention of fishing for, catching or taking a turtle; and
(e) fish for, remove from the fishery waters, or at any time have in his possession, expose for sale, sell or purchase any turtle from 1st April to 30th November in every year or as otherwise stated by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette and in a newspaper circulating the Territory.
(2) In this regulation.
(a) “turtle” means the whole or any part of a turtle;
(b) “undersized” means a carapace (shell) length less than
(i) 24 inches for green turtle
(ii) 15 inches for hawksbill

Sandy Cay, British Virgin Islands

Laurance S. Rockefeller purchased Sandy Cay in the 1950s, around the same time as his purchases of vast tracts of land on St. John. On St. John, Rockefeller turned this land, with the exception of the coastal area and beaches from Salomon to Hawksnest Bays, over to the National Park. The land that he kept was developed and eventually became the exclusive Caneel Bay Plantation, managed by Rock resorts. (The word “Plantation” was later changed to “Resort” probably because of its inherent political incorrectness.)

Meanwhile Rockefeller managed Sandy Cay creating his own little botanical garden. For many years the man on the ground there, doing much of the actual work, clean up, trimming and planting was Jost Van Dyke’s own “Nippy,” who to this day maintains a small business selling his wares to captains, crews and passengers of visiting yachts from his little dinghy “the traveling salesman.”

On May 1, 2008 Sandy Cay was transferred from the Rockefeller’s estate to the government of the British Virgin Islands and the island is now managed by the BVI National Parks Trust.

Rats were eliminated from the island in 2002 and in 2010 moorings were placed off the beach on the west side of the islands.

My modeling debut - Sandy Cay circa 1996

The above photo is an outtake from a photo shoot on Sandy Cay around 1996, when I filled in for the “old” male model, who didn’t make it down for the shoot.

Caribbean Flamingo

This colorful flamingo lives all by itself on a pond at Brias Creek, on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.
He or she must have come from either Anegada, where there are a flock of flamingos living in the big salt pond in the center of the island or from Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island upon which some 200 flamingos make their home.

Because of its size, my guess is that it came from Anegada as the Necker Island flamingos appear to be smaller than than those from Anegada.

Apparently it has been on Virgin Gorda for some time now, living a solitary existence, which is unusual as flamingos are generally highly social birds and live in large flocks.

An outcast? A loner? Can’t find its way back home?

I’ve also posted a series of photos of the flamingo in flight.

Rounding the east end of Great Thatch en route to White Bay

White Bay Jost Van Dyke BVI
White Bay was jumping yesterday, and will be probably even more so today. It certainly has become one of the biggest party places in the Virgin Islands. Big  power boats from Puerto Rico joined those from the US and British Virgin Islands, music blasting, people dancing, a real happening spot…

St. John Music Schedule Sunday April 24

Aqua Bistro – Lauren Jones – 3:30 – 6:30 – 776-5336
Concordia – Bo – 4:00 – 8:00 – 693 5855
Miss Lucy’s – Sambacombo – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – 693-5244
Ocean Grill – David Laabs – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693 3304
Rhumb Lines – T-Bird – 7:00 – 10:00
Shipwreck – Hot Club of Coral Bay – 7:00 – 10:00 – 693-5640

See Weekly Music Schedule